Working with LEADERSHIP confronts us with issues hard to dismiss; in fact, they keep agitating in our minds.
For instance, I recently had dinner with a pastor who brought up the subject of success. “You should do a whole issue on it!” he said, and then confided, “You know the article by Dave Mains in your last edition? That was my experience; I could have written the same article.” This pastor is now enjoying a great deal of success, but he’s acutely aware of how capricious and ephemeral success can be. “I’ve spoken in some seminaries,” he told me, “and I’ve told students, ‘I hope you realize eighty percent of you will be failures.’ After their initial shock I explain, ‘By the standards and ideas of success you’re forming right now, most of you will consider yourselves failures.’ “
It made me think of how many ways a pastor can be made to feel like a failure-church splits, small congregations, you name it. It affects all of us as Christian leaders: though stretching for success can be a good motivator, it can also be extremely destructive.
We Americans put the individual under the gun. An instructive study a few years ago of Japanese immigrants on the West Coast says a great deal about our culture. The Japanese-Americans were selected on the basis that one-third lived much like their relatives in Japan-group effort, group success; one-third were “half’ assimilated into American lifestyles; the last third were fully assimilated, working under the full pressures of California industrial life. Previously, it was assumed the Japanese suffered fewer heart attacks because of their fish diet. However, all of these people in the study ate the same foods. Conclusions? Those who lived like Americans had as many cardio-vascular problems as other Americans. Those living like their counterparts in Japan-group effort, group success-matched their low incidence of heart problems.
It says a lot about our pressure on the individual, our demands for success-and the pastorate is perhaps as tough a spot as any. At least in corporate life success is defined: sell 5000 widgets, or generate $10,000 profit, or stamp out fourteen fenders in a day. Too often in the church, through fuzzy job descriptions and false expectations, success is precluded, and some form of failure becomes almost inevitable. It’s a disparate group of assignments to be chief executive officer, persuasive speaker, pastoral counselor, and community and spiritual giant et al. Few persons are trained or equipped to do them all in the superb manner expected. In case after case, both pastor and congregation are disappointed in the lack of success, even though just what success might represent is never defined.
Biblical success is a marvelous thing, and we need a clear focus on what that is in the context of American culture. But perhaps a few thoughts from Oswald Chambers about how God views success in ministry would be worth contemplating. Here are a few selected nuggets from different portions of My Utmost for His Highest.
“Jesus Christ says in effect, don’t rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service . … Keep your relationship right with him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, he is pouring rivers of living water through you and it is of his mercy that he does not let you know it.
“The great enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day is this conception of practical work that has not come from the New Testament, but from the systems of the world in which endless energy and activities are insisted upon. but no private life with God.
“It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God, but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets among mean people.”
Chambers gives us much to consider. When God is whispering within us about our reputations and success, we find other voices don’t matter nearly so much.
Recently a pastor called to tell us he wanted every member of his staff and board to receive LEADERSHIP. He felt the articles would provide a discussion focus for many of the tasks and problems they face and was asking the church to cover the cost.
We believe many more churches should consider this. In fact, we want to help. In our early promotions, we promised LEADERSHIP subscriptions would never be discounted-a promise we will keep. However, we can offer multiple copies at lowered prices. It’s a great way to include all the church decision-makers in evaluating the crucial issues. If interested, see the advertisement on page 10.
We also agree with our pastor friend that the church should pay for these copies. In fact, we’ve been amazed- and saddened-to learn that only 16% of LEADERSHIP subscriptions are paid for by the church, and the rest are paid for personally. This relates to the statement in The Naked Shepherd that pastors, though very moderately paid, put in an average of more than $1000 a year out of their own pockets for ministry expenses and never get reimbursed. Pastors particularly should have professional materials as part of a planned budget.
But that’s another subject we’ll be dealing with in the future.
Harold L. Myra / President, Christianity Today, Inc.
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